The percentage of people in Switzerland who have foreign roots increased slightly last year to 37.2% – much lower than annual increases over the past five years.

In 2017, 2.6 million of the 7.1 million permanent residents aged 15 and over had a migration background, the Federal Statistical Office saidexternal link. This represented a 0.4% annual increase on 2016, which is lower than in previous years.

The term “population with a migration background”, as defined by the statistical office, refers to anyone – foreign nationals, naturalised Swiss citizens, as well as Swiss citizens at birth – whose parents were both born abroad.

Between 2013 and 2016, the number of Swiss residents with a migration background increased annually by between 65,000 and 74,000, compared with 45,000 in 2017. During the same period, the population without a migration background grew by 0.5%.